The appointment of Isabelle Chardonnier as director of the General Directorate of Cultural Democracy, Education and Research at the Ministry of Culture (DGDCER) was confirmed in the Council of Ministers on Wednesday June 10, on the proposal of the Minister of Culture Catherine Pgard.
A graduate of the Lyon Institute of Political Studies in 1993, Isabelle Chardonnier cut her teeth at the Rhône-Alpes Regional Council. She held the position of director of culture then deputy general director of services. After a stint at Rue de Valois, where she worked for four years as head of the territorial action department, she was appointed regional director of cultural affairs (DRAC) of Brittany in 2020. On June 22, she will leave the DRAC of Rennes to take up her new position at the ministry.
The change comes just one year after the appointment of the outgoing director, Naomi Peres, in June 2025. The former financial inspector was appointed head of the General Delegation for Transmission, Territories and Cultural Democracy (DG2TDC), then reappointed during its transformation into DGDCER. The ministerial decree specifies that the end of his functions follows a request from him. For the moment, no information has been communicated regarding his reassignment.
The DGDCER had taken over all the missions of the DG2TDC, which had been created in 2021 at the initiative of the then Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot. It aims to promote equality in terms of accessibility to culture, to decentralize cultural offerings and to improve the coordination of cultural higher education. The creation of the DGDCER achieves more of a reorganization and hierarchical strengthening of the delegation than a redefinition of its objectives, while nevertheless reinforcing the importance given to missions relating to higher education.
